


Strangers at the Bar

by MinibotDrinks



Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One), Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-19
Updated: 2016-06-03
Packaged: 2018-05-15 01:06:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,737
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5766127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MinibotDrinks/pseuds/MinibotDrinks
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Megatron has been feeling particularly lonely recently, and a visit to the Lost Light’s bar finds him an unlikely new mech to share those lonely nights with.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Upon Meeting

**Author's Note:**

> Now before you dismiss this pairing as merely a crack pair since they barely have any interaction in the comics, this pair came to me one night while thinking about Swerve and how he was pretty lonely aboard the Lost Light. 
> 
> Just as he stated in one of the issues before, he talked to a lot of people but nobody really stuck around to be his friend. And then I thought about how Megatron was also alone on the Lost Light. He only has Ravage for the most part, and the rest tolerated his presence on the ship at most. So I thought, there is definitely potential for them to relate and connect with each other, being in similar circumstances. 
> 
> When you have someone who likes to talk but has no one to talk to, and someone who wants people to talk to them but everyone avoids meet, they would both fulfill one another’s desire. 
> 
> I believe Swerve deserves someone special who would be there for him and he could also be that special someone to that person and that person ended up being Megatron.
> 
> Also a huge thanks to my best friend KingKaizer for motivating me and helping me write and edit this story!  
> 

Setting down the data pad, Megatron stared up at the grey ceiling of his hab-suite. He shut his optics and sighed. Tired from his day's work, he started to doze off but before he fell into recharge, a rambunctious crowd of mechs passing by his door jolted him back awake. Their words were a little muffled, though he could still make out what they were saying.

"Alright guys, first round at the bar is on me! After that, you're all on your own! Begging won't work on me."

A booming laughter followed by what sounded like a smack to the frame was heard. It was then answered by a gruff voice.

"Don't be like that! You should at least cover for two rounds, don't you think Crosslift?"

The loud voices quickly faded as they turned around the corner.

Swerve's bar--the hot spot on the Lost Light. A good chunk of the crew members frequent its location, as it's the one place that all gather at to have a good and relaxing time, away from all the troubles. Even Ultra Magnus could be spotted there from time to time, having a drink with everyone.

Narrowing his optics he glanced at the door, taking the idea into consideration for a good minute. Once he'd decided, he stood up and pushed his chair in.

"Ravage, I'm going out for a bit."

The four legged mech opened his optics and nodded, watching as Megatron walked out the door.

"I'm just going for a quick drink, nothing strange about that. A captain can take a break from his duties once in awhile and enjoy a glass of engex. Everybody goes there to relax."

Megatron reasoned to himself the entire way to the bar. When he reached his destination, he stood to the side of the large doorway leading into the busy bar. The voices were loud and merry, a sure sign that everyone was having a good time.

He was suddenly having second thoughts about going. He almost decided against it but before he could turn around and leave, a yellow and green mech walked out. The shorter mech smiled lazily and grunted at Megatron as he passed by, clearly a little drunk. 

He stood a little longer by the door, though since he was already here he might as well just go for it. He could use a drink anyway. The towering grey mech entered the doorway, and even though he went in quietly, he'd always had a huge presence that anybody would not fail to notice him. Thankfully they only took a short glance at him before going back to what they were doing, leaving Megatron to be able to find a seat that was a little isolated from the noisy crowds.

Surprisingly, this was one of the rare times that Ultra Magnus was there, accompanied by Rodimus, Whirl, Chromedome, and Rewind, as well as Tailgate and Cyclonus. Megatron spotted a vacant table by the corner and proceeded to walk towards it. He noticed that the table was still slightly dirty, with one empty cube and spilled engex spotting the surface of the table. 

Glancing over at the bar, he made his way over there and waited patiently as Rung ordered his drink from the ship's bartender and owner, Swerve. The red minibot served the psychiatrist's drink and all the others who were queued after him, and then turned to his latest customer. 

"Megatron! What a surprise to see you here! I think this is the first I've seen you for a while now. How long has it been? Welcome to my bar!" Swerve beamed, inviting Megatron to come closer. He set down a glass and picked up another one, making sure it was clean.

"So! What can I get for you today?"

The minibot was always cheerful and was one of the very few bots who didn't seem to mind that he was, in fact, Megatron. That gave him some comfort, even though it was probably just because it was his job to be nice to his customers. Even his manner and smile was not at all forced and that eased him a bit more.

A few mechs at the bar either entirely ignored the captain or had gotten up to finally leave. Not minding them, Megatron stepped forward and looked at the selection at the minibot's bar. 

"I'll have engex on the rocks with salt on the rims." Megatron said.

"That’s an interesting combination! You sure have a strong tank to stomach the salt and process it. You know, I knew a guy once who drank engex but he poured the salt right into his drink. Now THAT was crazy. I thought he was surely going to rust from the inside out and you know what? That is exactly what had happened. He rusted and he didn't even care. Now, I told him to visit the medics to get it looked at but every night he'd come stumbling into the club and..." 

Swerve continued talking as he expertly put the drink together. He had lined the glass rim with salt, coating it evenly and then dropped a couple of ice cubes. Lastly, he poured the engex and he finished his story, just like he always did with his customers who decided to sit at the bar and chat it up.

"...And so he ended up changing frames three times. That was one crazy mech." Swerve chuckled, placing the glass on the table. "That'll be 10 shanix."

Megatron thanked Swerve as he transferred his payment. Swerve began another story but no sooner than he started, the red minibot was bombarded with new customers. 

"Ahh, hold your tanks I can only make one drink at a time! Wait for your turn! Impatient slaggers. Sorry Megs I gotta finish these orders. I'll tell you the story the next time you’re here how about it?" he gave him a quick grin before turning back to the new arrivals. 

Megatron found his way back to the table he had his optics on earlier. Placing his drink down the large mech took a seat and held his glass in his servos. He sat quietly for the rest of the night, just him and his drink. Nobody really went up to have a conversation with him. A few greeted him as they saw him but that was the most of it. His optics roamed around the room every so often, observing the mechs who were chatting and making noise amongst themselves. They somehow always ended up watching the tiny red bot serving at the bar.

They grey mech sat back in his chair as he tried to get comfortable. The room’s noise level had gradually gotten louder with chatter and even singing. He watched the Autobots around him converse in groups clumped up together in the center of the room, while the smaller groups sat by the walls of the bar.

He should have been used to it by now--used to being alone, used to the silence, but he wasn't. Back during the war it was never quiet. Something was always happening that he was always a part of, and he never sat in one area for a long time. It was getting pretty boring and repetitive, and it ate at him every day being holed up in his room. Even with a companion, grateful as he was to Ravage, there was a part of him that wanted to be able to talk to others as just himself and not Megatron the Decepticon leader. For all his days, ever since he rose up and formed the Decepticons, he didn't have anybody to call his friend. 

Of course, he didn't really expect the crew of Autobots to just forgive him of all the heinous crimes he'd committed in the past. The most he got was tolerance, and he would be lying if he said that it was good enough. 

By the early hours in the morning, the bar had started to clear out and Megatron was one of the last to leave. He slowly made his way back to his hab suite, taking his time walking by the windows to look out at the stars. 

How long has it been? So much has changed in such a short time. If someone had told him before that he was going to end up on a journey to find the Knights of Cybertron with bots like Ultra Magnus and Rodimus, he would have laughed in their face and called them a dirty liar. Sometimes he couldn’t believe it himself but now, here he was, in that exact same scenario.

Just then, a voice calling out for him brought him back to reality. 

“Hey Megs!” a cheerful chip rang throughout the hall as he turned around to see Swerve jogging towards him. “Finished cleaning the bar since it wasn’t as dirty today. I saw you walking down this way so I thought maybe you’d like me to finish that story I was going to tell you now, you know?” he beamed. It was surprising how this minibot still had a lot of energy after a full shift of working the bar. 

“Oh no I don’t mind. I was wondering what happened to that friend of yours.” Megatron’s optics softened as he looked back at the smaller mech. 

This was the second time that Swerve had offered to have a conversation with him, keeping him company.

“Okay so the mech, his name was Firefist by the way, after changing his frame for the third time, finally learned his lesson now... at least, you’d think so right? Nahh! This guy comes in the following week grabbing the same drink he was told to stop taking!” Swerve went off telling the rest of the story, waving his arms and laughing it up at the jokes he was cracking not even noticing that the towering grey mech had slowed his pace to match his tiny ones.

Megatron gave his attention and listened as he walked alongside the minibot, strangely not feeling so lonely anymore. This bot wasn’t even talking about anything in particular and yet, he found himself fascinated by him. Swerve was just full of stories. Megatron kept on listening; it was actually refreshing that somebody was talking to him about regular things going on instead of things about the war or their current mission. That got quite tiresome quickly.

It was late into the day around the afternoon now they had found themselves hanging in a corner in the lobby with multiple empty glasses of energon. Swerve had kept a stash of energon with him in his subspace so he’d have something to drink even when he wasn’t at the bar.

As mechs passed by they received many strange and confused looks as they heard the tiny red mech’s bar jokes and their captain’s genuine laughs. Swerve had been dying to tell them to someone and asked Megatron if he wanted to hear them.

“Anyway, thanks for sticking around and listening to my silly stories. I have to get going now though, I need to rest up before my shift tonight. If you stop by I’ll make you a mix of that drink I was telling you about! I’ll even give it to you for half the price!” Swerve grinned widely, clapping his servos together as he bounced out of his chair. “Well Megs, it was good talking to you. I didn’t think you’d actually sit here the whole night and listen to me talk to be honest. Most mechs usually just make an excuse and walk away but you, you’re different. I don’t care what others say about you but you’re a pretty good guy after all.” And with that the minibot waved a servo at him before walking off, humming to himself.

Megatron sat in his seat for a while after the bot had left. He stared out at nothing as the silence returned. Getting up he cleared the table and dropped the dirty glasses into a nearby chute and made his way back to his quarters. This time walking alone.

Upon entering his room he greeted Ravage and went straight to his berth, his mouth still filled with the taste of his drink and a warm tank. A few moments later Megatron slipped into recharge.


	2. Second Chances

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Megatron wrapped up in his work and thoughts gets a second chance at getting to know Swerve better and to spend more time with.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the second chapter I've made it longer and I wanted to thank you all for reading.  
> I was really happy to see all the views/kudos/bookmark that I was overjoyed. It made me more excited than ever  
> to continue writing the story.

Megatron finished the last of his reports for the week and sent them out to the respective people they were assigned to in time. He started to tidy up and grabbed the data pads, along with his personal one before heading out. The grey mech stopped before he opened the door and turned to look over at Ravage, who was drinking some energon underneath the table.

“Would you like to attend the weekly meeting?” he asked, just in case this time Ravage would want to accompany him there. His companion often skipped out on the meets, as he had learned the past few times that Ravage usually ended up napping in a hidden nook.

“Thank you for the invitation but sadly I’m going to have to decline. You know those things just put me to recharge--literally. I’m afraid the ship’s meager problems are up to you.” Ravage chuckled, licking his bottom lip as he returned back to his energon.

That earned a small chuckle from Megatron. It wasn’t often that he smiled or laughed, and he was really glad that Ravage stayed with him and kept him company.

As Megatron approached the meeting room, there was already a small group of mechs lounging outside chatting. Just then, a familiar voice called out his name from the crowd. Looking around, Megatron found Swerve standing by the doorway waving a servo at him. The minibot took a step towards him but before he could take another step, Ultra Magnus appeared from the meeting room, effectively blocking the minibot before he could go any further.

“Megatron, I have just gotten word from First Aid. He just sent in the updated file of his report. I’ve computed the cost and I’d like you to have a look.” Handing over the data pad Ultra Magnus discussed the topic while he and Megatron walk right past Swerve and into the room.

When everybody was settled in and seated, First Aid started his report.

“As you can see from my reports I’ll need them replaced as soon as possible for my patients. I’ve waited up until the very last usage for them to try and keep the costs down.” First Aid said as he tapped on the screen of his data pad and sent out the information to the others who were present. Sitting in the meeting room around the table were Megatron, Ultra Magnus, Rodimus, Rung, and Perceptor, along with a few rows of other mechs who were scattered out behind the table. First Aid had been standing in front of the room to make his report. He looked over at Megatron and Ultra Magnus on the right side of the table and continued.

“I also believe that we should have a second pair of equipment in the lower storages. It would be beneficial in case anything were to happen to the medbay. Having this second set of equipment to rely on would put my worries to rest. We can also bring it out and help twice the mechs if we come across an emergency situation again.”

Rung nodded his head in support of this as he looked over at the red and white mech. The rest muttered to themselves as it had been brought up before, but it wasn’t such a problem until someone mentioned the Overlord incident.

Reading over First Aid’s request for more supplies and for the berths in the medibay to be replaced since the old ones were worn down tremendously and coming loose at the screws, Megatron overviewed the calculated cost with the ship’s monthly total. He approved it when he saw that the emergency energon supply had already been ordered. It wouldn’t be a problem with Ultra Magnus being diligent in his work and updated the reports every so often.

“I agree with your request First Aid. It would be a shame if you weren’t able to save someone because the equipment in the medbay weren’t fully functional. I’ll send this out to Arstiona to gather the items. We’ll drop by the planet in three days’ time.” Megatron set the data pad aside and looked over at Ultra Magnus. Ultra Magnus stood up and turned to face the table, clearing his vocal processors.

"Alright. Lastly, on the list is… Swerve.” The blue mech scanned the room for the minibot as he tapped open Swerve’s file.

“Yes I’m right here!” Swerve’s voice rang out as clear as a bell. Megatron turned his helm towards the direction of the voice and saw the red mech running up from the back of the room to get closer to the table.

_So that’s where he was._

“Excuse me! Sorry buddy, moving through.” Swerve gently pushed his way through the mechs as he walked towards the front, keeping his data pad close to his chassis.

“Whew! Okay so, I’m just in need of some more miscellaneous supplies for my bar. Nothing too big! Just some bottles of polishing oil for the tables and such, a few spare parts for the drones because a few of them are really starting to rust, as well as a refill on two of my energon tanks. I’m not running low yet but I don’t like the idea of my stocks being empty and I know none of you would want that to happen either. Who knows how long we’ll be able to get a good supply of energon.” Swerve said as he walked back and forth, listing everything that he needed.

Before Ultra Magnus could comment Megatron stood up and sent his approval on the file for the funds it needed.

“That should be fine. The members of the Lost Light visit the bar every night and so the bar should be fully stocked and that they can enjoy themselves. We can order what you need with the funds that we have left over. That’s a reason why any other requests for the ship is set at the end allowing for mechs to improve life on board.” With this Megatron sat back down, and Ultra Magnus took the captain’s words into thought.

Swerve beamed with excitement and rubbed the back of his helm, thanking Megatron for the approval. “Now this is a Captain who knows how to run a ship! Thanks a lot Megatron. My bar will look a whole lot shinier and my drones will run a bit faster now with the new upgrade!”

“All right. If there is nothing else here to discuss then the meeting for today is done.”

Ultra Magnus announced as he put a servo up.

“Okay so First Aid can get his request approved but not mine?” Rodimus slammed his data pad on the table with more force than was probably intended. He crossed his arms, a great frown plastered on his face.

“Mine was just as helpful as First Aid’s I’ll have you know!”

“Rodimus. Hoverboards aren’t a necessity, nor are they needed.” Ultra Magnus sighed and narrowed his optics at the now hunched over red and gold mech in his chair.

Megatron chuckled to himself as the usual sight of the stern Ultra Magnus was trying to deal with his co-captain’s antics.

As the meeting ended, Megatron walked out of the meeting room with the others at the table first, and the rest followed suit. Behind him Rodimus could be heard still trying his best to convince Ultra Magnus that the hoverboards would be the fastest way to travel, especially for bots who didn’t have wheels or wings.

With a sigh he picked up his pace, holding onto his data pad tightly as he distanced himself away from them, knowing that Rodimus was going to pester him next about the boards after he was done with Ultra Magnus. Turning around the corner towards his hab suite he glanced over his shoulder and saw that he was finally far enough from Rodimus and the rest of them.

Other than the once a week meetings and the ship’s monthly supply orders, and sometimes the occasional patrol, Megatron would be holed up in his room, rarely ever leaving.

It had been a couple of weeks since he had last stepped foot into Swerve’s bar on that first night. As much as Megatron liked being surrounded by other people, the idea of being around others who only stared at him and muttered under their breaths cursing him was highly unappealing for a night out. After all, not all were like Ultra Magnus and Rodimus, who had more patience with him than others, or like Tailgate, who never even knew him at all since he was out of commission.

He still didn’t quite know what drove him to visit the bar in the first place. In spite of all that, Swerve’s bar came into his mind many times. The minibot’s offer of a drink and his company lingered in his mind. Burying himself in his work he found excuses to not go out and occupied his mind with other tasks. Just as he was in the middle of punching the code to his hab suite, he heard loud footsteps rushing down the corridor. Whoever it was, they seemed to be in a hurry, as the clanking sound of their peds neared the corner just before the hall he was at. Curious, he looked towards the end of the hallway where the sound was coming from. There was a blur of red and white as the mech in a rush ran past the hall, though not a moment later he seemed to slow to a stop and backtracked to the hall where Megatron was. It was Swerve.

“There you are Megatron!” Swerve seemed to be relieved that he’d found the tall grey mech. He jogged towards Megatron, his frame a little hot from running. “You sure do walk fast for a big fellow. I thought I wasn’t going to make it before you got back to your room.” Regulating his intakes, he stood straight and gave the taller mech a grin, indicating that he was fine. “I tried to find you as soon as I got out of that room but I had to ask Ultra Magnus if he’d seen you because you were nowhere to be found. I had to nearly fight Rodimus off of Mags.” The red minibot laughed, waving the data pad he still had with him.

Megatron’s optics widened slightly. He was surprised to hear that Swerve had been looking for him. Whatever the reason was, it must have been important for him to be running after him all the way here. “What do you need to inquire about? Did you forget to address something back at the meeting?” Megatron asked, turning to face Swerve now.

“Ah, well, no, everything’s actually been taken care of, but… I haven’t seen you at the bar for a while now and I’ve been wanting to make that drink I told you about before. Remember the Floating Salt? Since you’re a bit more adventurous in taking your energon than most,” Swerve paused as if uncertain, but continued on, “I wanted to ask if you would consider stopping by the bar tonight if you aren’t busy!” His words came out rushed as he rocked back and forth on his heels, staring down at his servos then up at the tall grey mech. “S-so then I could be prepared and grind some fresh salt from my storage and bring it to the bar. It usually tastes better when it’s been prepped beforehand compared to the ones I have that’s been sitting on the shelves.”

There was a moment of silence and stillness before Megatron finally processed the reason why the minibot had run all this way for. “That was all? You needn’t have run your frame ragged just to ask me to stop by the bar. I’ve just been busy with work and haven’t had the spare time.” Megatron crossed his arms over his chassis. It was all a lie, of course. He had plenty of free time; time he spent in his room with Ravage. He didn’t actually think that Swerve would have taken the effort to invite him back to the bar and actually mean it. The minibot could have said it the last time they had met to be nice.

“Oh, of course you’re busy. You’re the captain after all.” Swerve rubbed the back of his helm as he chuckled. “I bet Ultra Magnus is always sending you a bunch of reports that are a thousand pages long without missing a detail and he must be sending them in faster than you can read. You’re busy, I got it. Very busy with captain duties.” Swerve laughed and stashed his data pad in his subspace, preparing to leave. “Didn’t mean to be bothering you, feel free to stop by the bar whenever. It’s open--I mean, it’s open every night unless I state otherwise but even then, I’d send out comlink messages to let everybody know but that’s never happened before so...” There was a pause, and then he took a step back, helm bowed.

“I guess I’ll see you later then. It’s best that I get back anyway, I still need to prep up for the evening shift. We all know how busy it gets with all the people spending time there. I’ll leave you to your work. I’m always at the bar so if you ever need a drink, you know where to get the best!” Swerve gave Megatron a big smile to reassure him that it wasn’t any trouble at all. Turning on his heel he walked away casually, eventually disappearing around the corner.

Megatron had stood there and watched as the minibot walked away. For a moment the larger mech opened his mouth but no words came out. Shaking his helm he punched the code to his room quickly and stepped inside. If Swerve wanted to try out a drink who was stopping him? The bot could always find someone else to try it out for him. There would probably be a bunch of volunteers. They were a pretty daring crew after all. Why would go through all the trouble and invite him back to the bar? It was probably for the entertainment of the others who knew that he sat alone while they all chatted with each other. The great and mighty Megatron, ex-leader of the Decepticons, sitting at a bar on a ship full of Autobots.

“Megatron, how did the meeting go?” Ravage asked as he prowled over from under the berth and sat down on the couch, whipping his tail back and forth slowly. His companion tilted his head, indicating that he sensed something was off with him. Megatron ignored the look he gave him and replied casually.

“Same as always. Rodimus was acting like a sparkling while the others did their share of the work.” The grey mech set the data pad down on his desk and pulled his chair to sit down. He heard a tiny ping and something flashed on the screen of his data pad--it was a new report so he tapped on it. It was from Brainstorm. Megatron stared at the words without processing what was written on it.

“Megatron is something wrong?”

Megatron heard Ravage’s concerned tone but instead of responding, he closed his optics and placed the pad down as he rubbed his temples. Moments passed and he didn’t hear anything more from the other bot. He was thankful that Ravage knew when to give him space, though this was also the time when the deafening silence came and Megatron was left to his own thoughts--thoughts that wandered off to the past during the war. All his actions and decisions that left such an impact on all Cybertronians, their home Cybertron, and the planets they have conquered and destroyed as a result of their civil war. He clenched his denta and his helm dipped forward slightly. After several minutes, Ravage spoke up again, more concerned now.

“You’ve been working awfully hard these past few weeks, Megatron. And I understand that you’ve dedicated yourself to making those amends and helping them find the Knights of Cybertron, but you should consider taking a break every once in awhile. Running yourself to the wire isn’t going to help anyone, and it’s not going to help the mission. Sad as it is to say, your frame and the poison they mix in your rations just make everything worse. I’m just concerned for you...” Ravage trailed off.

Staring at the cold steel walls of their shared hab-suite, he took a moment before turning around in his seat to face his companion. “I’m sorry old friend. I didn’t mean to make you worry. You may be right though, perhaps I just need a bit of rest is all.”

With nothing much else to do after a few more hours of work Megatron finally had laid down in his berth and taken a short recharge. When he had woken back up it was already late into the evening according to the time, which indicated that it was 10:37PM. Four hours of rest. Getting up from his berth he quickly checked underneath for Ravage. However he was nowhere to be found. He must have gone for a walk then. Megatron stretched, letting his circuits get going again. Slowly, he walked over to his desk and flipped through the messages he had received while he was recharging.

_Ultra Magnus. Ultra Magnus. Ultra Magnus. Rung. First Aid. Ultra Magnus. Rodimus. Ultra Magnus._

_Swerve._

He stopped flipping through and stared at the name. He hesitated for minute before going through with it and tapped the message open.

 

* * *

_Sender: Swerve_

_Subj: About earlier_

 

_Captain Megatron!_

_Sorry for bothering you earlier. I should have known that you wouldn’t have much time to just hang around the bar and do nothing. I know you’re the Captain and all but I guess Ultra Magnus does work you hard as a partner. He’s always so uptight with stuff, he should really learn to relax._

_But you know, I’ll bet Rodimus never did his work when he was captain and that Ultra Magnus did it all by himself. I’m sure with you as captain now, Ultra Magnus is glad that he has someone he could rely on to carry his own weight. Anyway... I just wanted to tell you that if you ever come visit, I’ll give you the drink for free! So stop by anytime you’re free of your captain duties. Again, sorry for bothering you. I’m told by everyone that I talk too much, even in my messages. Back at the academy my nickname was ‘Shut The Hell Up”. Probably appropriate now too since I’m starting to ramble again._

_Keep up the work, captain!_

 

_Swerve_

* * *

 

Megatron stared at the message, taking the words in as he let out a small chuckle. He found it amusing that the minibot had put aside some time to message him another apology about what happened earlier. He honestly appreciated it though, as not many people would do this in a sincere way.

Sinking into his chair he grabbed the data pad and flipped back to Ultra Magnus’ message.  He read the first line before he sighed and shut his optics.  No.  No more work for tonight.  It wasn’t too late into the night yet and going by bar standards, it would be just around this time that it would start to kick up.

Megatron stood up to leave his hab-suite and before he realised it he found himself in front of the doorway to the bar.  As he stepped inside, he no longer had to wonder where his companion had gone off to.  Ravage was seated at one of the corner tables by himself, drinking his energon.

Megatron went over to Ravage and greeted him, “I was wondering where you went.”

Ravage looked up and gave a small smile, “Glad to see you decided to take a break and stepped out of the room.  Care to join me for a drink?  That’s what you're doing here, right?  Or am I wrong?”

Megatron returned the smile and shook his head.  Turning around, he headed to the bar and nodded at Swerve, who’d spotted him.  He grinned widely and waved him over enthusiastically.

“Hey nice to see you here!  You must have gotten my message then.  I’m sorry about earlier but I’m really glad that you decided to come over to have that drink!  As a matter of fact, I saw that I still had some better quality ground salt here and I can get you that drink right now if you want!”

Swerve continued on, telling Megatron about how it was busy earlier and how everybody was in a better mood today.  The grey mech stood there patiently and listened to the minibot’s excited gestures while making his drink.

“Admittedly, I’ve only seen this drink made a couple of times and I’ve never really attempted to do it myself but everything’s gonna be fine!” Swerve smiled sheepishly, hoping the grey mech didn’t mind.  “Since this is my first time making this drink, you gotta tell me what it tastes like.  Otherwise I really won’t know.  I can’t drink it myself since my tank isn’t strong enough for the salt.  I promise I’m not trying to kill you, though.”

Swerve proceeded to mix the drink together in a container and shook it up.  Pouring the engex into a glass the red bot dropped in a couple of ice cubes and handed it over to Megatron.

“Here, I present to you, Swerve's Floating Salt!” The minibot looked quite proud of himself for making this drink, if that big smile on his face was anything to go by.  “Go on, try it!” Swerve said, pushing the glass towards the captain.

Megatron shifted his optics down at the finished drink and picked it up, examining it closely for a moment before taking a sip of it.  It was a lot better than he had expected.  The salt wasn’t too overwhelming and the the engex was nice and smooth--cool in the mouth but when you swallowed it it left a warm sensation.  He nodded and looked down at the minibot, who was watching him that whole time on his tippy toes, clearly eager to know what the other mech thought of it.

He downed the rest of it, the salty engex burning down his throat and into his tanks.  He shivered and shook his helm before placing the glass back down on the bar.  “Damn, that’s some pretty strong stuff right there.  Don’t get me wrong, it is was really good.”

Swerve’s optics had gone wider when Megatron drank everything, “Ahh, you downed everything… but it was good, right?  I was worried that I might have messed up on it.”

Megatron shook his helm.  His frame felt just a little bit hotter.  “No it was really good.  A very daring drink though I’ll say.”

The minibot clapped his servos together, “Great!  Well, thanks for doing me this favor Megatron, I owe you one.  How about I make you another on the house again?  Something that’s not too hard on the tanks and would be just right.  This is the last free drink you’re getting for the night though, so don’t think you're getting any more without paying for it.” Swerve eyed the captain and laughed as he set up another glass.

Megatron’s face suddenly turned serious, “As Captain of the ship, I have to make sure that all of your stocks are filled up and everything else up to date.” he said, then casually leaned his elbow on the bar, “I should have you make me a drink of every kind so I can inspect them.  You wouldn’t want anybody getting sick here.” he chuckled, teasing the red mech.

“Ha ha.  Nice try there buddy, but my engex and energon are the best on the ship… well, thanks to you guys.  I check everything over before I serve these to the crew, you know!  You won’t find anything wrong with it.  At least you gave it a shot.” Swerve smirked and handed Megatron the drink. “I don’t suppose you’ll pull up a seat at the bar?”

“I’m actually here with Ravage tonight.  It’s been awhile since we’ve had a drink together.”

 Thinking back on it now, it had been too long since he was able to sit down, relax, and have a drink with his only faithful companion.  Thanking Swerve, he turned back to rejoin Ravage.  Only when Ravage had been silent did Megatron look up with a questioning look.

“Is something wrong?”

“Getting comfy with the little Autobot?” Ravage said slyly as he drank his engex.  “This might be the first time I’ve seen you actually enjoying yourself since you got onboard the Lost Light.”

Megatron shrugged.  “It’s nothing.  He just needs someone to talk to. Besides, it’s good to talk about something other than official things.  It can get tiring after a while.” He sighed and took a drink from his glass.  The warm engex running down his throat felt relaxing.

Throughout the night, his optics wander over towards the back to check on what the energetic bartender was doing.  It was nice to see someone who always wore a smile on his face, even when he was just cleaning up the glasses or wiping down his bar.  He looked like he was having the time of his life.

Meanwhile, he and Ravage just talked about the past and their current mission.  Trying his best to stay positive was getting more difficult but on nights like this, he didn’t mind it so much, being able to relax with his companion and surrounded by the chatter in Swerve’s bar.

A couple of hours later Megatron and Ravage left the bar and made their way back to their quarters.  Feeling more content than earlier, both mechs settled down, with Ravage getting ready for recharge and Megatron sitting at his desk to check on any other messages or notices that he might have gotten while he was away.

Turning the device on he found no new messages.  He decided that he should take a look at what the others had for him.  They were mostly follow-ups on the meeting earlier, and with Rodimus still trying to persuade him and Ultra Magnus to get hoverboards for everybody.  The corner of his mouth curled up, amused at how this mech was put in charge in the first place.  He was capable and somewhat reliable though when you needed him to be.

After a moment, tapping his chin, he decided to compose a new message:

 

* * *

 

_Recipient: Swerve_

_Sender: Megatron_

_Subj: Drinks_

 

_Swerve,_

 

_Hello.  I just wanted to say thank you again for the drinks earlier.  You didn’t have to give them for free but I guess that’s just one of the perks of being the captain.  I was being serious earlier though.  I wouldn’t mind being a tester for your new drink mixes._

 

_Megatron_

* * *

 

Megatron pondered over the message for a few minutes before finally tapping send.  Shortly after, he got a ping and it was from Swerve.   _That was quick._

 

* * *

 

_Sender: Swerve_

_Subj: Re: Drinks_

 

_Megatron,_

 

_Really???  You’ll do it?  Won’t it interfere with your captain duties?  I don’t want to be beat up by Ultra Magnus for making you drunk!  Ha ha!  But seriously, that would be super awesome!  I’ve got tons of new mixes that I’ve been wanting to try out._

  _If you’re really sure about this, we’ll probably have to do it after I close the bar.  Wouldn’t want those buggers to think the captain is always getting free drinks and then think they should, too._

  _Just tell me when you’re free and then we can arrange something, yeah? _Anyway, I better get back to cleaning up the bar I want recharge soon._   _ _Tonight was a good night but pretty tiring!_

  _Good night Megatron!_

 

_Swerve_

* * *

 


	3. Nightly Hookups

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With plans of trying out new drinks Megatron and Swerve set the time late into the evening when all the other mechs are in recharge.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello there everyone! It's been a very long time and I thank you all for those who have been patiently waiting for an update. Seeing new bookmarks and comments drove me to work on the story and made me very happy. It's been busy with school and a new job. I hope to get back into the swing of it and bring out a chapter at least once a week if all goes according to plan. Now, here's chapter three!

Megatron had been in the middle of replying to a report when a new message flickered onto the screen, making him pause.  It was from Swerve.  Glancing at the time he saw that it was already 1:30AM.

 “It’s already this late?” he said, whispering under his breath as he tapped the message.

 

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_Recipient: Megatron_

_Sender: Swerve_

_Subj: Hey there Captain!_

 

_The bar is all closed for the night and cleaned up I should mention.  Wanted to tidy everything up before I invited you in tonight.  It was a mess since Whirl and Rodimus challenged each other to see who could take the strongest engex shots I had at the bar.  It didn’t help that everyone was encouraging and pumping them up._

  _It was pretty funny as it ended with Rodimus being taken out by Ultra Magnus and Whirl gloating as they had a bet, and then proceeded to threaten to fight everyone.  Thankfully, Whirl left in peace and nothing was broken, except for Rodimus who had to pay for all the drinks.  He actually attempted to use the money that was supposed to be for ship repairs and restocks, but I had to report it to Ultra Magnus and Rodimus got in even more trouble than he already was.  Now he’s broke too._

  _But hey as I was saying, the bar is open for you now so come down anytime.  I’m getting the drinks prepared--a couple that I’ve been storing in the back of my mind.  It’s not as fun to try out new drinks by yourself, you know?  The more the merrier, as they say!  See you soon!_

  _Just walk in._

 

_Swerve_

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Megatron sighed.  He could definitely imagine that that’s exactly what Rodimus and Whirl would do.  At least they didn’t cause too much trouble and he was glad that Swerve made the right call in calling Ultra Magnus to handle the situation.  Shaking his helm, Megatron closed the message and saved the reply he had been working on.  He had done most of what he could tonight and now he could relax a bit.

 “I’ll be back by early morning.”

 Megatron pushed in his chair as he was leaving, speaking to Ravage who had woken up when he heard his companion get up.  Rolling his shoulders he tried to get his wires to loosen up--sitting at his desk for most of the day always made his frame stiff.  He used to always be up and about doing something, but now he was reduced to basically a desk job.    

 As he left his hab-suite, he strolled through the quiet halls of the ship, on his way to the bar.  There was no mech who was outside of their hab-suites during this hour; only the mechs who had patrol would be wandering around, each covering their designated area.

 The grey mech stretched his back--there was a pop and relief.  That was more like it.

 It had just been two days ago that Swerve had eagerly accepted Megatron’s proposal of being a drink tester.  Megatron had told Ravage about it after he and Swerve had agreed to going through with it.

Truth be told, Megatron was glad that there was something else he could do for the night instead of just reading report after report and caring for the ship.  As Captain, he would do his duties but as an individual, he was bored of this daily routine of his.

The thought of being at the bar with no one else there wasn’t as bad either.  No one would be talking about him under their breaths or having any remarks made.  He could just sit back and enjoy his drink with the minibot.

 Swerve was doing him a favor for giving him a reason to get out at least if even for a few hours.  Besides, Swerve was a talkative one, having such stories to tell and know almost everything about every single other mech.  He probably wouldn’t even need to read reports about the crew’s wellbeing.  He’d just have to ask Swerve.  Megatron chuckled at the thought.

 As he approached the bar, he walked right inside as the minibot had stated, finding the bar as spotless as it was every night before opening.  The tables were polished, the floor had been buffed and shined, and clean glasses had been lined up in rows.  On the right side, he spotted Swerve, and he had been busy grinding something in a blender and hadn’t heard or seen Megatron walking in.  There were a few containers sitting out, along with two pitchers of some fuel.

 Megatron’s lips curled up as he watched the minibot from the doorway.  Swerve had his back to him while he prepped the drink.  He was going to say something but decided to stay silent and observe.  It wasn’t often that one got to see what another mech did when they thought they were alone.  After a long night of working he still had such high spirit; doing something you liked that much must seem like a dream though.

 “Forty-five bottles of engex on the wall, forty-five bottles of engex!  Take one down, pass it around, forty-four bottles of engex on the wall. Forty-four bottles of engex on the wall, forty-four bottles of engex!  Take one down, pass it around, forty-three bottles of engex on the wall...” Swerve sang loudly over the noise of the blender, swaying his frame and tapping a ped on the ground.

 “Oh yeah!  You're looking amazing baby!  You’re turning out so well, I’m proud of you.  You’re the star of the night so I hope you’re ready!” Swerve said, talking to nobody in particular.  Or it was probably the glass he was looking at.  The minibot shook his helm as he hummed the tune of the song he had been singing.   Pouring the thick pink liquid into a pitcher he turned to face the bar and kissed it.

 “Hello Swerve.  It’s nice to see you enjoy making drinks.” Megatron greeted, a small smile on his lips.  

 The red mech was startled to learn that his guest had already arrived without him knowing, but he just grinned and threw his arms wide open, almost spilling the contents of the pitcher in his servo.

 “Megatron!  I didn’t hear ya come in but that’s okay!  Glad you made it just in time!  I just finished the last drink for the night.  I didn’t want to make you wait too long so I started right after I finished cleaning.” Swerve beamed with excitement.  “Well, take a seat at the bar and make yourself comfortable.  I even brought in a cushion for you.” The red bot placed the pitcher he had in his servo with the rest as he wiped down the table and pushed all the containers to the left side of him.

 “Thank you.” Megatron said. His brows furrowed.  He wasn’t really used to saying that still, and without any malice or plotting involved.  Shaking that off his mind, he sat down on the stool with the cushion.  He watched the minibot who was still behind the bar grabbing glasses and gathering the last of the things he needed from under the counter.

 “So, how was your day?  Mine went pretty well!  Every night working the bar is a great night.  Bluestreak has also been a big help ever since he started working here with me.  With more mechs joining and visiting guests, it was getting harder to maintain and keep up.  The drones could only do so much.  I’m glad he’s so willing to help.  He picks up the things I teach him pretty quickly as well, so I don’t have to coach him anymore compared to when he first started here.”  The minibot said conversationally as he grabbed two glasses and set one down in front of Megatron.

 Megatron tried to figure out what to say to the minibot as he was never really one for small talk.  He had always thought that there wasn’t much point to having it, as he usually never cared for whoever the mech was and it being a waste of time, but now he found that he didn’t mind it so much, though he was still unused to such casualness.  

 “It was good.  Quiet, but good.” he answered vaguely, not sure on how to respond.

 “That’s good to hear.  Being Captain of this lot must take up a lot of your time... like me and my bar.  It’s always been my dream to open one of my own.” Swerve hopped onto a stool behind the counter and poured the first drink.  “Alright, you came here for the drinks so let’s get to it.”

 Megatron watched the dark purple liquid fill the glass.  Upon closer inspection, even with the low lighting that they had, he noticed tiny flakes of what seemed to be metal that sparkled as it swirled around.  Once Megatron’s glass was filled up, Swerve did the same to his and set the pitcher aside.

 “This one is called Galactic Rift--Engex mixed with filtered oil and iron flakes for a bold flavor.  I heard about this one from a bartender back at Cybertron who was at recon on earth.  They were bored one day and started to just mix drinks on their own and came up with this.  It’s apparently a hit in the lower side of town.  This will also be my first time trying this, mind you.” Swerve said as he grabbed his glass and lifted it into the air.

 Megatron followed and brought his glass up as well. He took another look at his drink--it looked like space with its bright, countless stars.  He’d actually briefly heard his underlings talk about this drink before when he was on Earth but back then, he never really had any time to laze around and try all sorts of mixes.

 “I’ve been curious about this one for a long time now.  I had forgotten all about it.”

 Swerve and Megatron clinked their glasses together.

 “Well, we haven’t tasted it yet.  You might not want to remember it after this.” The minibot laughed and took a gulp.

 Megatron brought the glass to his lips, took a sip, and grimaced a little.  A strong taste of bitterness hit him first, then a slight sweetness lingered as he swallowed it.  He found that the drink was bit too bitter for his liking.  It was as if he was drinking coal, only worse.  Filtered oil did not go well with engex.  The iron flakes was a nice touch but it wasn’t enough to balance out the bitterness.

 Looking at Swerve to see how he was liking it, the grey mech didn’t have long to find out as he immediately saw the shorter mech’s glossa sticking out and his faceplates scrunched up in a very displeased look.  He’d quickly set his drink down and wiped his servo across his mouth.

 “Primus above, that was terrible!  I can’t believe this is actually a drink!  A drink that people LIKE.” Swerve’s mortified face told it all.

 Not wanting to waste Swerve’s effort, Megatron quickly downed the drink fast.  Setting his glass down he shut his optics and shook his helm, the bitterness and intensity of it overwhelming him.  After a moment of trying to hold everything down, he looked up and found Swerve staring at him with huge optics, his glass still full of Galactic Rift.

 “You brave, brave soldier.” Swerve placed a servo over his spark, shaking his helm. “I’ll remember you well.” Swerve then stared right at him, “Seriously, you didn’t have to do that.  Don’t blame me if you get sick!” he chuckled as he grabbed both their glasses and stacked his full one over the other empty one.  Setting them down by the sink, he reached for a second pitcher--this one was a bright red orange in colour, akin to fire, and was bubbly.

 “That one is definitely a no in my data pad.  Let’s try this one to wash down that Galactic Rift, shall we?” The minibot set out new glasses and began to fill them up.  “This one is called Amber Fire if I remember correctly.  It goes by another name but I don’t remember it right now.  It’s supposed to give you a burning kick so don’t say I didn’t warn you now Megatron.” Swerve said as he dropped in a couple of ice cubes into their glasses.

 Megatron stared at his glass for a moment in thought, and then said, “You stated that opening a bar was your dream.  How did it come to be your dream?” He was curious, as he hadn’t really met anybody with the same dream as he did, and it didn’t hurt to know more about this bot that he was going to spend more time with from now on.  He was pretty sure that the minibot wouldn’t mind.

 “Ah, well you see, I met... you know Blurr, right?  Of course you do, Blurr the fastest mech on Cybertron.  So one day I met Blurr at a party right?  This was way waaaaay back.  He’s just so awesome I can still remember it so clearly.  I was talking to him and mentioned that we should open a bar together since that’s what he wanted to do as well.  He gave me this number but he must have given me the wrong one.  I tried calling him multiple times but it never went through.” As Swerve went on recounting his story, his tone went from a thrilled tone to a melancholy one.  He stared at his glass, optics seemingly unfocused.

 “Blurr must have been distracted by all his fans and the noise that he wrote down the wrong number.  It was kinda short but we all make mistakes.  Though one time after that mess back on Cybertron, he came on board the Lost Light and he even visited my bar!  Can you believe that?” The minibot looked back up at Megatron with a smile on his face, obviously proud that his idol had come to his bar.

 Megatron bit back his words and just smiled back at Swerve.  “That must have been something.  I’m sure you served him the best drinks you had to offer.  He’s lucky to have a drink at your bar.”  Wanting to cheer the minibot up even just a little, he lifted his glass into the air. “To Swerve, achieving his dream.  You did it all by yourself.”

 At that, he saw Swerve light up and the minibot lifted his glass as he spoke, “Thank you.  Who would’ve thought that I’d get such great encouragement from Megatron?  Haha!  But I swear I’ll keep doing my best to improve my bar!”

 To that, they made a quick toast and drank the second experimental mix.

 Oh Primus.  It did just as Swerve had said.  It tasted strongly of unfiltered energon with the bare minerals burning down his throat.  Megatron did the same as the first one and finished his off fast but right at the start.  It wasn’t too bad, though the only thing was that it burnt a little too hot down his pipes. He would need a moment before drinking some more.

 “Wow!  That is one strong burn.  I can feel it spreading through my frame!” Swerve exclaimed, shuddering.  

 Megatron reached for the pitcher and poured himself another full glass.  This one he liked.  He took another swig at the cup and drank half of it down.

 “I admit it’s good but I can’t drink it as fast and as much as you can.  You’re pretty amazing.” The minibot laughed.  He was only one thirds down his first glass.  Swerve looked up at the taller mech and smiled, rubbing the back of his helm.  “I can tell that you really like it.  I suppose it IS a good one, huh?” he said, downing some more of his Amber Fire.

 Megatron glanced at the pitcher as he recounted a memory, “This reminds me of a drink back on Earth… Thundercracker had a fascination for human movies and culture.  One time, he kept going on and one about this one drink the humans had called… Mary… something Mary… ah, Bloody Mary if I recall correctly.  He said it had a bright colour to it like this one.” Tapping his empty glass on the tabletop, he must had been staring at it intensely as he spoke to Swerve since the next thing he knew, the small red mech had reached over and had pushed the drink towards him.

 “Here, you can have the rest.” Swerve grinned widely.  “I don’t know if the mighty Megatron chugs but this would be the perfect time for it.” He leaned onto the countertop and propped his chin in a servo, seeming like he was just waiting for him to drink the rest of it.

 The grey mech’s frame was already starting to feel hotter by the second.  This was probably not a good idea as something was whispering to him to stop, but instead decided to push the thought aside.  Before he could change his mind, he grabbed the pitcher to prepare himself.  He took a deep breath and downed the drink in seconds.  The fiery liquid burned its way through his throat, crawling down all the way to his tanks.  His inner fans clicked on and worked on cooling his very warm frame.

 Megatron’s vision started to slightly blur as he felt the drink hitting him harder in one strike.  His more professional captain’s composure slowly dissipated as he slumped in his seat, shoulders hanging down and his optics glowing dimly in the light.

 Megatron was more buzzed than he thought because the next thing he knew was that he found himself staring down at Swerve who was tapping on his shoulders.  The minibot was standing in his chair and looked a little concerned.  His mouth was moving but his words were all jumbled up in Megatron’s receptors.  Blinking his optics he shook his helm slightly and held it in his servos.

 “Megatron….. Okay?...... You… Are you okay?  Feeling alright?” Swerve’s voice faded in and out for a moment then finally became clear.  He noticed that the minibot was still standing on his chair with a servo on his shoulder.

 “Yes.  I’m sorry, that was a very bad idea.  I didn’t think that it’d hit me this hard.  I’ll be fine though, I can still try out the last one you have.  I can’t miss it--I heard you calling it the star of your show tonight.” Megatron said, finally looking back at the red mech.

 Swerve shook his head and waved a servo in front of the other mech’s faceplate.  “I don’t think you should be drinking any more right now after that.  If it’s hitting you this hard you should stop.  I can always make it next time y--”

 “No, I’m fine.  I want to try it.” Megatron cut in before the minibot finished his sentence.  Sitting up straighter he rolled his shoulders back and then his helm.  “I just probably need to drink some regular energon and filter some of this out of my system.”

 A glass of energon was then shoved into Megatron’s servo.  He looked up from his drink to Swerve, who just had a grin on his lips.  As Megatron drank the energon half way through he noticed he minibot moving to grab the blacked out pitcher hiding the contents inside.

 “I had a feeling you’d say that.  I’ve had more than enough experience to know when to have a glass of energon ready.” Swerve chuckled as he finally poured the last drink of the night.  

 The colours instantly captured Megatron’s optics.  He was absolutely enchanted by the glow of the bright blue drink with bubbles of yellowish red and aqua.  When the glass was settled the red mech poured himself one, this time all the way to the brim.

 “This one I made myself and I’m very proud of it.  Admittedly this is one of my best creations.  It tastes fragging awesome.  You won’t find this anywhere else but here on the Lost Light.”

 Swerve really looked like he was proud of this one--it must be really good.  The bot then held his drink in his servo.  The luminous blue liquid cast a soft glow in its immediate proximity, his servos shining like stained glass while the bubbles of yellowish red and aqua danced around, shifting the colours on wherever its light touched.  This one looked very appealing.

 “But the real magic starts after I add in the ice.” The smaller mech winked as he picked up an ice cube and passed the bucket full of ice to Megatron.  “Grab a couple.”

 Megatron reached in, grabbing two ice cubes then turned his optics back to Swerve.

 “Well, what’re you waiting for?  Go on, drop the cubes in.” Swerve said, excitement apparent in his voice.  

 Megatron did just that and dropped the ice into his drink.  His optics were focused on the bubbly drink, interest piqued.  After a moment, the yellowish red bubbles split up into dozens of tiny, tiny bubbles, covering the entire top layer and some bloated up to ten times their size.  The aqua colour melded into the drink, looking like several long pieces of strings attached to the bubbles on top.  The ice was nowhere to be found on top--it was hovering right in the middle of the drink.

 Moving his glass side to side, he watched as the aqua strings swayed slightly, the tiny yellowish red ones rolled over one another and the ice cubes shifted but always came floating back to the middle.

 No longer buzzed he was now highly impressed and enticed by the drink.  Just then, a voice interrupted his thoughts.

 “Are you going to tell it it’s beautiful and take it out to dinner or are you going to drink it?” The minibot had been watching him this whole time and laughed as he dropped his ice cubes in his drink.

Megatron chuckled and shook his helm feeling a little silly, but looked back at his drink once again.  Taking his first sip Megatron was taken by surprise by the smoothness of it.  He noticed the cool flavoring of light, sweet copper, followed by a strong but well-balanced taste of iron and silver.  The use of what slightly tasted like regular engex was a brilliant idea, as it had brought out the bold flavours of the metals to their full potential.  

 If one had tried to mix the copper, iron and silver with high quality engex, the flavours would clash too much and result in it tasting bitter like mercury with a terrible aftertaste.

 “This is... wow.” Megatron turned his optics to look at Swerve, who was smiling widely at him knowing that he had liked it.  “I don’t think I’ve ever drank anything like this before.  You can’t even taste the engex in this.  It’s so clean.”

 In response Swerve waved a servo in the air with laughter in his voice.  “Thanks a lot Captain, your words mean alot to me.  I’ve been working on perfecting this drink for a long time now.  Everything from the copper to the engex has to be precise, otherwise it’ll mold in together and you couldn’t taste them at all.  Too much ice and the drink would get too bland, too little and it does nothing.  Drink it by itself and you’ll have a mouthful of awful.  Trust me you don’t want to drink it without the ice.”

 Megatron nodded and took another sip, slowly drinking it as he wanted to savor the taste and enjoy this one.  It definitely stole the show from the other two drinks. “What do you call this?” he asked, shutting his optics for a moment.

 “Liquefy Deposit, though the name is still in the works.  It’s original name was Smouldering Alloy Punch but it’s not really a kick back drink, it’s just a relaxer.  I thought you’d like it since you're always so busy and cooped up in your hab suite.” Swerve had both servos around his cup as he spoke, staring down at it. “Helping you loosen up the stress even just a little would be great.”

 That was the first time that someone had ever said anything that resembled genuine concern for his well-being from someone who only knew him as the terrible tyrannical leader of the Decepticons.  The grey mech’s optics softened at that.  He reached a servo out and placed it on the minibot’s shoulders.

 “Thank you, Swerve.”

 Megatron felt the smaller bot freeze and tense up at his touch.  Realising that other mechs probably didn’t appreciate him just touching them, he pulled his servo and apologized.

 “Sorry, I didn’t mean to offen--”

 “No, no you didn’t I just… just...” The red minibot looked up into Megatron’s optics, his mouth open as if he was going to continue what he was going to say but no sound came out.  After a moment, he finally spoke. “That was a genuine display of affection, a REAL one... wasn’t it?  I… haven’t had that in such a long time I froze up.  Sorry.”

 Megatron’s expression softened as he looked back at Swerve, his visor gleaming as it reflected off the few lights they had on.

 “The same could be said here... thank you for inviting me and making such wonderful drinks tonight.” he said, smiling as he said this sincerely.

 After but a second, Swerve turned away and downed his drink.  He hopped out of his chair and slapped his servos together.  “Aha, look at the time it’s getting so late I didn’t even notice!  I better start cleaning this all up.” The minibot said as he quickly shuffled away, grabbing an empty pitcher in his servos and his glass.  “Take your time and finish your drink!  No need to rush.” Swerve added as he stacked the glasses on top of one another, cleaning and wiping them down.

 Megatron watched the smaller bot as he cleaned, though he was sure that Swerve could feel his optics on fixed on him.  

 “I think out of all the drinks you’ve made for us tonight, I liked Liquefy Deposit the most.  Do you think you could make it for me again next time as well?  If you make that drink for me I’d be content with having just that for the night.” The grey mech swirled the last bit of his drink around before drinking all of it.

 “Y-yeah!  No problem!  If that’s what you’d like I can definitely do that.  I have more calming and soothing drinks as well so I will definitely make you other ones to go with it.  I didn’t take you for the soothing type but hey, you live and you learn right?  And this _is_ supposed to be a drink test.” Swerve chuckled, sounding like he was getting back to his normal talkative self.

 After a few minutes, Megatron held out his glass towards the minibot. “Thank you, here you go.”

 Swerve quickly grabbed the glass, flashing a smile at him before turning away again and wiping it down.

 “You don’t have to wait for me, of course!  I still have to finish cleaning up after all.  Feel free to leave whenever.  I’d hate for me to be the reason that you’re going to be tired for the rest of the day.  Mags would kill me!”

 “It’s not a problem.  I’ll wait for you and we can leave together.” Megatron answered back, leaning his elbows on the bar’s tabletop.

 Swerve smiled showing that he appreciated the gesture and before long, he was rambling off about his plans for tonight’s drinks and how Ten was somewhat of a help around the bar--just everything about his daily activities and Megatron enjoyed listening to him.  Learning more about how Swerve viewed the crew was interesting.

 “Phew, thanks for waiting.  You really didn’t have to, you know?” Swerve jumped off the step stool and worked his way around the bar.  Megatron stood up and pushed his chair back in as he followed Swerve out of the bar.

 “Please, it’s the least I could do to thank you again for the drinks.  I thought you could use some more company who would just listen.”

 “Well, I’m a tough minibot.  I can handle being alone. It’s what I have to do every day when I close up the bar.” Laughing the minibot closed the place up with a code and turned towards him. “Thanks again for trying out the drinks I made and for finishing all of them.  I wouldn’t have been able to do it myself.  It wouldn’t have been as fun either!”

 “Next time I’ll make sure not to let them go to waste again.” Megatron said, chuckling.  He also took note of what Swerve said about being alone all the time.

 Swerve’s visor gleamed as he pointed up at Megatron’s faceplate. “Oh my god!  You just laughed!  You can actually laugh?!  Like not the evil laugh or whatever but.  A laugh!  Okay, you are definitely more drunk than I thought.  Are you going to be okay walking back to your hab suite?”

 Megatron waved him off with a servo. “Believe it or not, I, Megatron, also have feelings.”

 The minibot burst out laughing, slapping his knee. “Good one, Cap’n.” Swerve sighed after having a good laugh then continued, “That’s a wrap for the night then!  See ya Megatron, and goodnight.” The minibot yawned as he turned his heel, walking in the opposite direction and waved his servo lazily at the grey mech.

 Megatron waited until the minibot had turned the corner and then started walking back to his room.  As he walked, he stared down at his servo and clenched it.  “Genuine display of affection...” he murmured, remembering back to when their optics met at the bar, the look on the minibot’s face stuck to his mind.

 Shaking his helm he walked down the corridor, his peds echoing off the walls with every step.

 Alone.


End file.
